When Travel, Humor & Human Connection Collide: A Joyful Conversation with Melissa Rodway
Some of the best stories on The Debbie Nigro Show start with a “premonition.” You know… that little voice that says to someone, “I should reach out to Debbie.” And when that voice belongs to someone with great energy, curiosity, and a whole lotta heart? I listen.
That’s exactly how I connected with Melissa Rodway—Toronto-based travel storyteller, longtime host of Fly Travel Radio, part-time adventurer, occasional stand-up comic, and author of the five-star Amazon hit The People You Meet.
And let me tell you… this conversation was pure joy.
From Airport Observations to Life Adventures
Melissa’s book was born from heartfelt emails she sent home while traveling through Southeast Asia and China—emails so good, friends begged for more. Sixteen years later, she finally turned them into a book. (Proof that timing is everything, people!)
Right out of the gate, she hooks you with humor—like watching President Obama on TV in an airport while wondering why the woman next to her didn’t care… “Maybe she already has dental.”
That’s Melissa. Observant. Funny. Relatable.
Travel, Romance & Letting Your Guard Down
We talked about how travel changes you—how being on the road makes you more open, more authentic, and more willing to connect.
That’s how she met “the guy.”
Yes, that guy.
A fellow cyclist. Same passions. Same energy. A long-distance love story born on a trip.
And as Melissa so beautifully put it: sometimes travel romances stay where they began… and sometimes you bring them home and say, “Oh boy… now I have to fit this human into my life.”
(Relatable?)
The Magic of Noticing the Little Things
One of my favorite parts of her book? The tiny moments.
Like discovering a self-sanitizing toilet seat cover in a public bathroom for the first time—and wishing her grandmother could’ve seen it. If you’ve ever heard a grandma yell, “Put paper on the seat!” from another stall, you felt that one.
Melissa gets it: the little things are what connect us.
Leeches, Luxury & Life Lessons
We also dove into her wild jungle hike in Laos—three days, brutal heat, not enough water, and… leeches. Everywhere.
On the flip side? Traveling with a luxury trip designer boyfriend meant fancy hotels, endless pools, and the pressure to “do it all” in 24 hours.
Her takeaway?
The best stories don’t always come from luxury. They come from real life.
Amen to that.
Strangers Who Don’t Stay Strangers
At the heart of Melissa’s book is this beautiful idea: the people you meet while traveling often leave lasting marks on your life.
Like the fearless, wildly eccentric 70-year-old woman who wandered through Asia like she owned the place. Brilliant one moment. Totally unpredictable the next. A reminder that courage has no age limit.
Some connections last. Some don’t.
But all of them matter.
Why This Conversation Mattered
What I loved most about Melissa is her honesty. She’s not a “perfect Instagram traveler.” She’s real. Curious. Thoughtful. Sometimes uncomfortable. Always growing.
Her stories remind us that:
- You don’t have to be fearless to be adventurous
- You don’t have to be perfect to be inspiring
- And you never know which stranger will change you
That’s life. That’s travel. That’s storytelling.
Final Thought
If you love travel stories, human connection, honest conversations, and a good laugh (and you know I do!), The People You Meet is for you.
And if you missed our chat, don’t worry—here’s the podcast of my conversation with Melissa Rodway so you can come along for the ride.
Because in a world that moves fast, stories like this remind us why slowing down, paying attention, and connecting still matters.
Onward!
Debbie (Feel free to follow me for more inspiration about how to keep the ‘live’ in ‘alive’!
Instagram: @therealdebbienigro / Facebook: The Debbie Nigro Show / LinkedIn: DebbieNigro
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show.
0:00:26
(Speaker 1)
Well, people get premonitions all the time. Some have a premonition they should get in touch with me, tell me who they are, and then hopefully be a guest on my show. Well, when somebody does that and they resonate with me and I love their spirit and their energy, of course, of course, of course. Hey everybody, I’m Debbie Nigro and my guest today is proof Let the best stories start with people, right? We’re in a big storytelling time of the world. Storytellers are actually getting paid big money as a job description these days, all right?
0:00:54
(Speaker 1)
There you go. So joining me is Melissa Rodway. She’s based in Toronto. She’s a travel storyteller, and radio host, and adventurer, and she’s even done some stand -up comedy like we were just talking about, right? She’s the creator and longtime host of Fly Travel Radio. She’s had more than 180 conversations about adventure travel and connection, right?
0:01:17
(Speaker 1)
And what happens when you say yes to the road to success? less travels and she’s drawn to hiking and cycling and paddling trips and she’s actually very enthusiastic about any adventure that involves curiosity and good people. She’s also the author of The People You Meet which is a five -star Amazon best -selling debut. She created out of all the heartfelt emails she wrote while traveling through Southeast Asia and China and well here she is. Melissa, welcome.
0:01:45
(Speaker 10)
Debbie, hello.
0:01:46
(Speaker 2)
How are you today?
0:01:47
(Speaker 1)
I love that you wrote this book. I got to tell you, Melissa, it’s good. It’s really good.
0:01:53
(Speaker 2)
Oh, cute.
0:01:54
(Speaker 13)
I appreciate that.
0:01:55
(Speaker 1)
Well, I love a good story and I love a good story told with a little bit of humor. and your tone just flies through, right? It was just fantastic and I think one of the few things that caught my attention was right at the gate, right? You tell me how you start this travel experience and before you get to the story about the guy and all the great stories, by the way, and how you’re sitting in the airport and I remember it was on the TV, you know, she caught President Obama at the time confirming Obamacare in the departure lounge. And she said, this could be one of those where you were when moments. I was eating a Luna bar in O ‘Hare Airport and I was much more interested in this person, the other person who was not.
0:02:39
(Speaker 1)
And you said, maybe she already has dental. The woman was in the sunglasses and you’re like, maybe she must have dental and not be interested in this. All right, so that’s the way you came out of the gate. Brilliant. I want you to tell me why you didn’t write this book till now.
0:03:00
(Speaker 2)
Yeah, very good question. I think that I haven’t been hot about it off and on for many years. I would look at it, I would put it away. And then, you know, I took a year off to travel in 2023. And when you do something kind of big, then other things start happening. So I did that, which led into doing stand -up comedy.
0:03:23
(Speaker 2)
And then after that, I thought, you know what, I’m pulling this thing out of the closet and I’m going to send it off. And I’m glad I waited, because I think that the things you said in 2010, you can’t necessarily say them now. So that was probably a good thing. And I think it was also really good to have a pause to realize how that experience actually impacted me. I think I got more out of it and revisited, revisiting it than I would have if I’d done it right away.
0:03:51
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, it’s great. So you were 35 when you when you took. wrote this, you know, it’s about when you were 35. And you had all these notes you put together from traveling. And now, 16 years later, you publish it. And I loved you in the beginning, you’re like, all right, listen, a lot of these things are not relevant anymore.
0:04:05
(Speaker 1)
But okay, but some of them really are. The point that you first made and this is a very interesting because you were single then and there are a lot of single women out there wondering where they’re going to meet somebody hopefully, right? And they all have an idea of who the right person might be. Men too, you know, but I’m not just talking about women. And you went on a trip by yourself, right? And then you tell me about the guy.
0:04:26
(Speaker 1)
Everybody loves a story about how you met the guy.
0:04:29
(Speaker 2)
Yeah, everybody loves the guy. So I was in Cuba on a cycling trip about four years before this big trip happened in 2010. So we’ll say 2006, I guess. And yeah, I was on a trip. And I mean, there were a lot of people from around the world, some couples, a lot of singles. And there was another guy there from England.
0:04:50
(Speaker 2)
And we just hit it off right away. And bada boom, bada bing, we ended up dating for four years. four years and then we went off on that adventure. So two years long distance and then two years he moved to Canada, which almost killed me, but I did it.
0:05:07
(Speaker 1)
What was interesting about how you connected was he liked the same things that you did you’re a biker and he could keep up with you and you’re like, okay, so this is a good thing and all the things he was doing on this these this trip was like, you know, you you stopped and you’re like I mean if I could just find a guy like him meanwhile, you’re like He is the guy okay, and but you were long -distance so that happens I’m sure to so many people because on vacation you definitely let your guard down You’re a different kind of person way about letting people in don’t you agree?
0:05:35
(Speaker 2)
Yeah A million percent. That’s, I think, part of the joy of why we do it. We maybe are our most authentic selves, but there’s also, you know, that’s not always the reality. So you’re kind of going through the world with a different kind of freedom. than you have in your normal life, and that can lead to some weird and wonderful relationships. sometimes they should stay where they were and sometimes they carry on.
0:06:00
(Speaker 2)
So yeah, that’s the fun part of travel, right?
0:06:03
(Speaker 1)
Sometimes they should stay where they are. It’s when you try and drag it forward, which was what you did with this guy. And what you said was, you know, you’re used to being alone and now you had to fit this guy in your life. You’re like, oh, jeez. Anyway, jeez. I also got another laugh.
0:06:22
(Speaker 1)
And again, I didn’t have a chance to read the whole thing, but I got enough into it to know that I would like to finish it. It was terrific that you tell the story. In real time, when you take notes, you remember things that you never would have remembered after the fact, like the fact that you were discovering a revolving toilet seat cover in a women’s washroom for the very first time. And you’re like, oh, you wave your hand over a sensor and magically a fresh layer of sanitized plastic wrap instantly comes out from somewhere. She goes, I didn’t look too closely at this source and covers the ring of the seat. I wish my late grandma Rodway could have experienced this.
0:06:58
(Speaker 1)
I may have saved me from many moments of childhood embarrassment when she’d yell at me through the stall in a crowded public restroom to always put paper down on the seat. Oh my God, who can’t relate to that?
0:07:08
(Speaker 2)
Exactly. Well, that’s the beauty of a good story, right? It’s like we all go through these things and you just need to pay attention and to share them because that’s what makes us all connected, right? And relating to these like silly little moments.
0:07:22
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, absolutely. And I take notes all the time about these silly little moments. I do love how you were telling the story. So the people you meet, why would you think that a story about your trip to Asia and China would resonate with other people?
0:07:37
(Speaker 2)
Well, I think it’s like anything. It’s like if someone writes a song or whatever, you don’t know that it will resonate. But I guess I was lucky because when I was on the trip, I mean, the book came about because I was sending these massive emails home to people. And in the beginning, it was just something to do. Like the person I was with, he had a lot of purpose.
0:07:57
(Speaker 2)
He was meeting business contacts and I was just along for the ride and I kind of needed to entertain myself. So I started sending these emails out of the things that were happening. And people were responding. They said, send us more. I can’t wait for next week. And that’s how I kind of knew there was something there.
0:08:16
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, great. So your fella, who you went to, it took you, I don’t know, 35 hours to finally get to him when you finally met up after this big trip was planned through Southeast Asia and China. He was trying to become a luxury, like what? What was it exactly he was doing? A luxury hotel or travel guide? Luxury travel guide or what?
0:08:40
(Speaker 2)
He’s like a luxury trip designer. So he creates itineraries for people so they can have adventurous trips or sabbaticals, but that they’re staying in very beautiful accommodations.
0:08:55
(Speaker 1)
Yeah. And before that, you’d only mostly stayed at Holiday Inn.
0:08:57
(Speaker 10)
So here you are in all this luxury, which I thought was also a funny take, you know, getting used to being treated like a queen.
0:09:05
(Speaker 1)
Yeah.
0:09:05
(Speaker 2)
How’d that go? I mean, we’ve been together for four years, so this was not entirely new to me, but yes, it’s a whole different world. I’ll tell you that the best stories aren’t coming out of a luxury hotel, but certainly when you’re tired and you need a break, I mean, they’re wonderful places. And it’s also overwhelming because there’s so much to do at a luxury hotel. And often we only had 24 hours there. So you’re trying to like squeeze it all in.
0:09:37
(Speaker 12)
Did I swim in all the pools?
0:09:39
(Speaker 11)
Did I go to all the
0:09:40
(Speaker 8)
beaches?
0:09:41
(Speaker 10)
Did I go to the gym?
0:09:42
(Speaker 2)
Yeah, right?
0:09:43
(Speaker 1)
So there’s pressure to, like, see and do it all.
0:09:46
(Speaker 2)
Okay, so without, you know, taking too much time on individual stories, I would like to hear one story, at least, that you can share with the audience that you tell in here that comes to you first when you think about your book. I think the one that everyone wants to hear about is the leeches because it’s in the subtitle, you know, luxury leeches, love and lau lau. So we went up to Northern Laos and I’m a pretty active person. And, you know, when you’re traveling like that, we were on the move probably every two days. So you’re always in a bus or a train or a boat or whatever. So you’re sitting a lot.
0:10:25
(Speaker 2)
And I was determined that we were going to do something active. So we signed up for this three to four day jungle hike in northern Laos. And right from the beginning, we should have known it was not going to go well. They kind of hinted. We signed the waiver. And they’re like, just so you know, their English was terrible.
0:10:45
(Speaker 2)
But just so you know, there might be some leeches, there might be some bees. And we’d had a few beers, which is where I was heading there. So we were like, whatever, it will be fine. So yeah, whatever. So we got up there and long story short, it was really awful. three to four days in extreme heat.
0:11:05
(Speaker 2)
They’d offered us or told us they would bring enough water. We didn’t have enough water.
0:11:09
(Speaker 1)
Oh, there were literally leeches crawling on the ground, up our legs, on our hands, in our sleeping bag.
0:11:17
(Speaker 9)
Oh, I can’t listen to this story.
0:11:20
(Speaker 2)
It’s horrible.
0:11:22
(Speaker 8)
That’s a story.
0:11:23
(Speaker 7)
Yeah.
0:11:23
(Speaker 2)
Not good. Just delirious by the end. Yeah.
0:11:25
(Speaker 1)
So that’s one you’ll look forward to reading. You’ll be like, thank God she did it and I don’t have to. Yeah. Tell me about one stranger that stuck out because this whole book is about the strangers who don’t have to. stay strangers for long and the connections that linger long after the trip ends.
0:11:39
(Speaker 2)
Who sticks out in your head quick? Your face comes to you. A stranger you met along the way. Yeah, there’s a woman in there, you’ll read about her. Her name is l she was 70 has been traveling on her own through India, China, and then all these countries in Southeast Asia, wildly eccentric, never knew what was going to come out of her mouth. Sometimes she was brilliant.
0:12:02
(Speaker 2)
Sometimes you thought she was on a day pass.
0:12:05
(Speaker 1)
But she also has good life got Yeah, she got you into some like really weird and interesting situations because she just had no fear and felt like she belonged everywhere and anywhere.
0:12:17
(Speaker 2)
So fascinating.
0:12:18
(Speaker 6)
I’ve never met anyone like her.
0:12:20
(Speaker 1)
Where is she?
0:12:22
(Speaker 2)
Where is she now?
0:12:22
(Speaker 1)
Yeah.
0:12:23
(Speaker 2)
Stay in touch?
0:12:24
(Speaker 5)
I have no idea.
0:12:25
(Speaker 2)
Oh, you let her go.
0:12:25
(Speaker 1)
I mean, she tried to email me, but no, it was, it was too, she was too strange, to be honest, Debbie. Okay, I got it. She was fun for the moment, but I had to move on. Yeah, I’m hearing you.
0:12:36
(Speaker 2)
I’m hearing you.
0:12:37
(Speaker 1)
Have you stayed friends with anybody from this book stories of your trip to Southeast Asia and China? You stayed in touch? I mean, certainly with the main character, but the guy that ended up traveling with us, Charlie, he now lives in New York, so once in a while I hear from him, but not a lot, because you know when you travel with a partner, it’s very different than traveling on your own, so the connections you make are maybe not as intense as they are when you’re doing it solo.
0:13:08
(Speaker 2)
Oh, that’s a great line.
0:13:09
(Speaker 1)
The guy. Is the guy still in your life? Well, Debbie, if I tell you, you’re not going to read the rest of the book.
0:13:17
(Speaker 4)
OK, don’t tell me.
0:13:19
(Speaker 2)
Fine.
0:13:20
(Speaker 1)
Don’t tell me. All right. I’m not going to tell you. All right. So let’s talk about your podcast, Fly Travel Radio.
0:13:27
(Speaker 2)
Actually, it was radio, right? Because everybody been in the radio business knows that radio podcasts are radio on demand I don’t know you know must you must know that right fly travel radio 180 conversations I would love to do a show about traveling if I traveled more so I have to live vicariously through people like yourself love that and the book you know you got five stars on Amazon that’s not easy congratulations Thank you. Yes, people love it. I think they love it for many reasons. One, as you’re signing, it’s quite funny.
0:14:00
(Speaker 2)
I think it’s very honest. So there’s a lot of people in travel that we can’t relate to, but I’m a pretty relatable person.
0:14:07
(Speaker 1)
So I think that helps people.
0:14:09
(Speaker 3)
And I think it inspires them to do their own stuff.
0:14:12
(Speaker 1)
And whether you like to travel or not, it’s just an awesome adventure. So I think it’s good for everyone. Yeah, yeah. I’m so happy you connected with me and got in touch. Thank you so much. I appreciate that you thought I could tell your story.
0:14:24
(Speaker 1)
And I’m happy I did. And if you’re just tuning in and missed it, I’m surely going to post the podcast of our conversation. Melissa Rodway.
0:14:32
(Speaker 2)
based in Toronto, travel storyteller, author of the book, The People You Meet, five star Amazon bestselling debut from her. And if you love travel stories, honest conversations, human connection, and a little humor like I do, this one’s for you.
0:14:46
(Speaker 1)
Thank you so much, Melissa. Thank you, Debbie. That was great to talk to you. You too. You too. To be continued.
